This is the sign on the road that warns you of road work ahead and to be prepared to stop. Only it's not road work ahead, it's spoiler warnings ahead, and while they'll tell you when to stop, you follow links herein at your own risk.

Synopsis of the Fringe Pilot Reviews:

TVWeek's Vlada Gelman is robotic and matter-of-fact (wasted). With the exception of a few superficial observations, it's a completely neutral review.

IGN's Eric Goldman breaks ranks with Vlada and Patrick and dares to write at length about his impressions. His review ends with, "...once the core trio of characters are united, it's very easy to see how this series -- and the dynamic these characters bring -- will work and it's a journey many will likely find worth taking."

TV Squad's Kristin Sample naivete bubbles just under the surface as she clearly took notes and made observations as if she were lucky enough to be attending an "event." Which, of course, she was. Thanks Kristin. Kristin's opinion, "If The X-Files and CSI had a baby and that baby's godfather was Heroes, then that would be Fringe. Sounds pretty good, right? Well, after attending a screening of J.J. Abrams' new show at Fox studios in Century City, I can vouch that it is indeed pretty good. One might even say it's more than pretty good; it's great in fact."

Variety's Cynthia Littleton breaks it down pros (plural) and con (singular) style and has some interesting reflections of the type you might expect from someone who has been paying attention to Fringe long enough to have developed a few preconceptions worth disproving.

E! Online's Jennifer Godwin gives the Fringe pilot the full treatment in an extensive review, but also writes, "Long story short? [Fringe is] super."

All told, and with the exception of a few minor quibbles and those that forgot to have an opinion, every last review was near glowing if not glowing.

Eric Goldman proves he is a good man (read: he knows what the people want) as he scores an interview with J.J. Abrams and ask him nothing but questions about Fringe.

Question: How did Fringe come about? What was the inspiration for it?

J.J. Abrams: It was really just Alex Kurtzman, Bob Orci and myself just hanging out and talking about the kind of show we'd love to see on the air. For better or worse, like most of the things I do, it just comes from stuff that I'd love to watch. It's sort of a boring answer, but that's kind of what the truth is!

Question: What will we see on the show on a weekly basis? What's the core of the show?

Abrams: At the core of the show are three very distinct characters – this young woman, who's an FBI agent; this really eccentric, nutty and until recently institutionalized scientist; and his somewhat troubled and estranged son. [It's] this trio going up against this very shadowy network of [what are] essentially researchers, who are playing with science and pushing it in ways that are increasingly terrifying. And these three are basically the good guys who try to police them.

Question: For a lot of people, the frame of reference for this type of show is X-Files.

Abrams: Totally.

Question: What would you say to them about what sets Fringe apart from that show?

Abrams: I'd say the distinction is, for example, the way The X-Files massive distinction from The Night Stalker was that the characters were very distinct and different. I would say the characters on our show are incredibly different [from X-Files]. Are they up against crazy, seemingly paranormal and terrifying things, like they were in Night Stalker and in X-Files? For sure.

I was a huge X-Files fan, so I would be lying and an idiot if I didn't say that the inspiration for Fringe came from The Twilight Zone, came from Night Stalker, and came from X-Files. Those shows were so entertaining and that [type of] show, with characters that are inspired and interesting, isn't on TV and so it was something that we wanted to see.

Question: As [FOX's] Kevin Relly joked about, you have a reputation as "the ingénue finder." What was it about Anna that jumped out for you?

Abrams: [Pointing towards the attractive Torv, standing a few feet away] Well, she's just so damn ugly. No, the thing is that honestly we saw many, many, many really good actors, and there's that thing you're looking for that clicks. It often is just sort of an indescribable, strange quality. It was getting really down to the wire and a casting agent showed me this audition [tape] that Anna did for something else, an Australian show. And I just knew that was her, [even though] she wasn't reading our dialogue. Then we sent her five pages and she auditioned with that and it confirmed it. She came out and got the job.

Question: There's only so much of you that can physically go around. How much will you be involved with Fringe?

Abrams: Well, the best thing I can do to define my involvement is the way it was with Cloverfield, which was I had this idea for something and then [Drew] wrote the script. The beauty of having Matt Reeves direct Cloverfield and having Drew Goddard write it, is there is such a shorthand with these guys, who I know so well. Matt I've known since we were 13 and Drew I worked with on Alias and Lost. Jeff Pinker is running [Fringe]. Jeff was one of the first writers we hired on Alias and we have directors who are coming on who are in the family, the Bad Robot family, as well. And so my involvement is that A, it's a show that I co-created and care immensely about, and B, Jeff is there and we are talking 1000 times a day and I'm in the writers room. [Lost's] Bryan Burk is producing along with [Felicity's] Bob Williams; literally all these people are people I have worked with. So the ability to work on the show is made infinitely easier by being able to explain, talk about and reference things with people where I'm not starting from scratch trying to develop a dialogue.

For example, with Jeff Pinker, we start with, "This is what I feel the show wants to look like. This is how I feel week-to-week kind of how the show should feel." We start there on a big level. Then I can get the details and every big decision we are discussing; every big thing. Every step we come in, especially at the beginning, as with Lost. To work so closely with someone, as with Damon [Lindelof], who I created Lost with… We're so lucky that he stayed with that show and runs it now. My involvement with that show is negligible now, but he is a brilliant guy, as is Jeff. And I feel like as long as I can help begin the trajectory and work with the show and then, as needed, be available… On Lost, I wasn't needed very much after awhile, because Damon was just so good and so right. On this show, I so look forward to writing episodes and directing episodes. The thought of doing the show, especially since we're shooting in New York, I just feel so lucky that we have this opportunity. So my involvement will be real.

Question: Have you made a plan with Damon to share Lance Reddick? [Editor's Note: Reddick, who plays recurring character Matthew Abbadon on Lost, is a series regular on Fringe]

Abrams: [Laughs] We've figured out how that's gonna work. It will be easier for Lost to get him through us then if he'd taken some other show.

...The answer is, it's a limitless universe on Fringe, so anything and every thing they can dream up, hopefully we will be able to put on screen. One other note--aside from the scarf(!?)--is how Joshua comes to Anna's rescue in the interview, and whether in typical Abrams leading lady fashion, that dynamic is reversed on screen.

Televisionary, who reviewed FOX's "Fringe" Pilot Script, has now posted a review of the actual Pilot as well. It's a long and detailed review and a bit spoilerish, so beware. For those who want to avoid any spoilers, the opening two paragraphs of the review pretty much say it all anyway:

Every once in a while a pilot comes along that is so perfect, such a shining indication of what the final series will be, so perfectly cast and directed, that it's impossible to look away.

But Televisionary's isn't the only review out there. As I mentioned yesterday in the forum, Nick's Pix also claims to have seen the Pilot and his review is less enthusiastic:

I expected more from FRINGE (**1/2), the latest big-budget TV series from LOST and ALIAS mastermind J.J. Abrams, who developed the series and wrote the pilot script with TRANSFORMERS writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman for FOX. Directed by TV vet Alex Graves (THE NINE, WEST WING, SPORTS NIGHT, JOURNEYMAN), this extended episode (82 minutes) felt less like a true pilot and more of a middle-of-the-season-episode. ...read more.

Those two reviews don't exactly agree, but there's still something to be gleaned from both: a) you're going to need to watch/judge for yourself; and b) don't be surprised if you end up loving it or hating it.

Edit: The Futon Critic also has a review of the Pilot up today as well. Read it here.

J.J. Abrams has started putting together the cast for his new Fox series "Fringe." Kirk Acevedo ("Invincible") and Tomas Arana ("Gladiator") have been cast in key roles on the skein, which marks Abrams' first big series under his deal with Warner Bros. TV.

Acevedo's other credits include "The Black Donnellys," "Law & Order: Trial By Jury" and "Oz." ... Both thesps have also guest starred on Fox's "24." - Variety

Yesterday we posited that if there was a viral marketing campaign for Fringe then chances are it was already underway and the fans just hadn't found it yet. Today, Future on Fox leaves little doubt that our guess was on the money with this response to NY Mag's question, "Hey J.J. Abrams, Where's the Viral-Marketing Campaign for ‘Fringe’?":

That is the question being asked by RopeofSilicon, NYMag and an as yet unknown number of Fringe/Abrams fans who are lining up to trying to find and connect disparate, cryptic and quasi clues to who knows what (read: The Pattern). But the kicker is if there is an Abrams style viral campaign in the cards, chances are it's already afoot, and the first clues to its existence have already been sprinkled among the teaser trailer and sneakpeeks and/or posters. In fact, history being the best predictor at this stage of the game, chances are good that there's a Fringe related viral website already up and running just waiting to be found.

Harkening back to campaigns of old for more clues, both those that predated my interest (apparently there was some Alias related stuff on the web), to those I've only paid peripheral attention to (LOST), to the mother of them all (Cloverfield), the first question I have to ask is while these are all Bad Robot productions, is JJ Abrams really responsible for any of these campaigns or are they really just the products of the respective marketing divisions of the various parent studios (Paramount) and networks (ABC)? And if that is the case (and I think it is), are longtime aficionados in for a real treat as FOX's edgy marketing department takes "viral" to the next level?

What do you think? Will the marriage between JJ Abrams and Fox redefine viral marketing?

"Well, she's just so damned ugly," ... "No, the thing is, honestly, we saw many, many, many actors, a lot of good ones. And there's that thing where you're looking for that thing that clicks, and often it's just sort of an indescribable, strange sort of quality."

Abrams said the right actress proved elusive, at least until Bad Robot casting agent Ann Webster showed him Torv's audition tape for an Australian show. He watched it, and "I knew that was her," Abrams said, referring to Torv's Fringe character, Olivia Dunham. "She wasn't even reading our dialogue. Then we sent her our pages, and she auditioned for that, and it confirmed it. She came out and got the job."

The writer-producer-director explained that the concept for Fringe came about quickly and easily while he was "hanging out" with longtime collaborators Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. They were "talking about the kind of show we'd love to see on the air," Abrams said. "For better or worse, like most of the things that I do, it just comes from stuff that I'd love to watch. It's sort of a boring answer, but that's kind of what the truth is."

J.J. Abrams' Fringe just got a whole bunch more interesting with the casting of Australian actress Anna Torv to play the upcoming series' title character.

Anna Torv Joins FringeThe two-hour pilot, being directed by Alex Graves, centers on Olivia Dunham (Torv), a young, tough FBI agent who is forced to confront the spread of unexplained phenomena and work with Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble), an institutionalized scientist whose work might be at the center of a coming storm... - CanMag

Production on their franchise reboot of "Star Trek" hasn't stopped J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman from starting casting on their high-profile FOX series "Fringe."

According to the industry trade papers, Kirk Acevedo, Tomas Arana and Mark Valley will take main roles what will reportedly be a $10 million, two-hour pilot.

The Hollywood Reporter says that Arana will play a Homeland Security agent heading the paranormal-obsessed Fringe division, while Acevedo and Valley will both play FBI agents of some sort.

Valley's no stranger to FOX dramas, though his series for the network -- "Pasadena" and "Keen Eddie" -- have been admired and quickly cancelled. He's most recently been doing time on "Boston Legal." - Zap2it

FBI Special Agent OLIVIA DUNHAM (newcomer Anna Torv) is called in to investigate. After her partner, Special Agent JOHN SCOTT (Mark Valley, "Boston Legal"), is nearly killed during the investigation, a desperate Olivia searches frantically for someone to help - Fringe Press Release

Welcome to the Fringe fansite Fringe Television. If you're looking for the latest news and information on Fringe on FOX, or a community where you can to share your thoughts and opinions on the Fringe TV series, this is it. Click here for the home page where you'll find the latest headlines and most active discussions, or see the sidebar to the right for other useful links.

FRINGE (Tuesdays, 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT): From J.J. Abrams ("Lost"), Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, the team behind "Star Trek," "Mission: Impossible III" and "Alias," comes a new drama that will thrill, terrify and explore the blurring line between science fiction and reality.

When an international flight lands at Boston's Logan Airport and the passengers and crew have all died grisly deaths, FBI Special Agent OLIVIA DUNHAM (newcomer Anna Torv) is called in to investigate. After her partner, Special Agent JOHN SCOTT (Mark Valley, "Boston Legal"), is nearly killed during the investigation, a desperate Olivia searches frantically for someone to help, leading her to DR. WALTER BISHOP (John Noble, "Lord of the Rings"), our generation's Einstein. There's only one catch: he's been institutionalized for the last 20 years, and the only way to question him requires pulling his estranged son PETER (Joshua Jackson, "Dawson's Creek") in to help. When Olivia's investigation leads her to manipulative corporate executive NINA SHARP (Blair Brown, "Altered States"), our unlikely trio along with fellow FBI Agents PHILLIP BROYLES (Lance Reddick, "The Wire"), CHARLIE FRANCIS (Kirk Acevedo, "Oz") and ASTRID FARNSWORTH (Jasika Nicole, "Law & Order: Criminal Intent") will discover that what happened on Flight 627 is only a small piece of a larger, more shocking truth.

The Future On Fox Blog has posted 5 posters for Fringe. It looks like the TV Week headline Fox 'Fringe' Marketing Starts ... Now! isn't kidding. According to that article, if you're in New York City, keep an eye out for: "...two dozen cows to heavy traffic locations in Manhattan. The bovine billboards will be accompanied by street teams handing out all sorts of "Fringe"-themed merchandise, from T-shirts to apples. . . street teams will ride around town on Segway scooters or moving on foot. . . Fox will hand out more than 5,000 "Fringe" items around the city. . . a full-page ad to run on the back cover of Thursday's New York Times Arts section and a 1⁄2 page ad in the New York Post. . . printed special editions of the Post wrapped with four-page "Fringe" ads. Street teams will hand out the special copies of the newspaper at commuter hot spots such as Grand Central Station. . . advertising heavily on a jumbo screen in Times Square, as well as more than 40 digital billboards attached to subway entrances. . . And once the sun sets, random video projectors set up around New York City will beam "Fringe" ads on the sides of buildings and other public space."

TWO NEW DRAMAS, THREE NEW COMEDIES AND ONE UNSCRIPTED SERIES JOIN SCHEDULE

HIGHLY ANTICIPATED J.J. ABRAMS DRAMA "FRINGE"...

New York (Thursday, May 15, 2008) Peter Liguori, Chairman, Entertainment; and Kevin Reilly, President, Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company, today unveiled the FOX primetime schedule for the 2008-2009 television season speaking before the national advertising community at New York City Center.

"Broadcast television needs a jolt. We feel it's our responsibility, as the No. 1 network for the last four seasons, to provide that electricity," said Liguori. "The goal of our business is entertaining viewersthey're our lifeblood, and it's incumbent upon us to make sure their first and favorite entertainment destination is FOX."

Reilly added, "We're going to make plenty of noise and yet potentially have more stability and success than we've had historically in the fourth quarter. We'll be focused in the fall with two new series one comedy and one drama and then use our big assets in January to launch an even more powerful second season."

The new event drama premiering this fall is FRINGE, a fantastical thriller from acclaimed writer/producer J.J. Abrams ("Lost"), Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman ("Star Trek," "Mission: Impossible III," "Alias"). Joshua Jackson ("Dawson's Creek"), John Noble ("Lord of the Rings") and newcomer Anna Torv star as an unlikely trio who uncover a deadly mystery involving a series of unbelievable events and realize they may be a part of a larger, more disturbing pattern that blurs the line between science fiction and technology.

...

FOX kicks off the new season with special two-hour premiere events the week of August 25 including: ... FRINGE Tuesday, August 26 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT);...

The NYT and USA Today have images from the Fringe pilot accompanying their stories on FOX's upfront presentation at Gotham's City Center today.

My guess is that these images were part of a press packet. Hopefully one of the lucky recipients of said packet will see fit to post all the material or they could forward them to us and we'll put them on the web.

The accompanying blurb from the NYT story:

The network is hoping that “Fringe,” the drama created by Mr. Abrams, among others, will have better luck. It is the story of an F.B.I. special agent (played by Anna Torv) who is called upon to investigate a mysterious Boston plane crash. For assistance, she seeks out a brilliant scientist who has the disadvantage of having been institutionalized for the previous two decades.

The question has been asked. Where will Fringe be shot? Back to Toronto? LA? Boston? Well, the NY Post thinks they know.

Nobody's discussing new series locating here until this week's upfronts are over. Except me. Me, I'm discussing Warners' investigative job "Fringe." Originally set for cheapo Toronto, thanks to those NYC incentives, it'll shoot here. All over here. Four main roles - an FBI type, a female, a wacko scientist and his son. It's Emmy-winning J.J. Abrams' fourth TV show. He also did "Mission: Impossible III," so he does these big-time off-the-wall type things. This is sci-fi mixed with mythology mixed with cop stuff mixed with a mad scientist. We're talking Frankenstein meets Einstein meets Law & Disorder. -- Cindy Adams, New York Post

Perhaps it's just me, but while the report may in fact be accurate, something about it leaves me doubting.

This one is pretty much spoiler free, and rather positive, and by a screenwriter (i.e. argument from authority). Jill Golick says of the Fringe script titled simply "Pilot":

There are a number of things that struck me about the script. It’s incredibly well written and tells an exciting story that you don’t want to put down. Abrams uses lots of “fucks” and “shits” in his direction (not in dialogue). It’s quite effective. The writing is casual and he pauses to set up things that will become part of the series format; the way lettering will appear on the screen, how montages will work, etc. ...read more.

Regarding the many reviews of the script, a source tells us that script is an early version and has since seen a lot of changes. So, it's safe to say the show will be even better than the glowingest script reviews (and some of them really glowed).

Zap2it has a thorough piece on Fringe. It doesn't hurt that they've read the script (or at least an early version of it), but they also seem well versed in how a script should read, and sufficiently objective about it (just my read, but there's a lot of jealousy out there when it comes to JJ Abrams' success).

The article opens with the news that's being reported far and wide as of today, "FOX will announce its 2008-09 schedule at its upfront presentation to advertisers on Thursday (May 15)," along with this telling insight, "But fans have already been anticipating Dollhouse and Fringe for months." Telling in that it tells me that the author of the piece, Daniel Fienberg, reads the Internet (which is more than can be said for most "connected" reporters). A few excerpts of Fienberg's first impressions:

Created by J.J. Abrams with frequent cohorts Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman, Fringe is expected to have a place on the fall schedule, launching with a two-hour pilot believed to be budgeted in the $10-million range and directed by Alex Graves (Journeyman). The cast of the X-Files-esque drama is led by relative newcomer Anna Torv -- hoping to catch a little of the magic Abrams gave to Keri Russell, Jennifer Garner and Evangeline Lilly -- but includes familiar faces including Joshua Jackson (Pacey!!!), John Noble (Denethor!!!) and Lance Reddick.

...Keeping in mind that between rewrites, casting and directing choices original pilot scripts can be as different from the eventual pilot as night and day, here are a few first impressions [having read the script]:

When something disturbing, unexplainable and just a bit icky happens to the passengers on an international flight, FBI Agent Olivia Warren (Torv) begins an investigation that leads her to Dr. Walter Bishop (Noble), a renegade scientist whose unorthodox experiments into fringe phenomena led arrests and eventually institutionalization. Warren can only get Bishop out with the help of his estranged son Peter (Jackson), a young man with a genius IQ, but questionable morals and motivation. The son isn't ready to reconcile with his father, the father isn't ready to be reintegrated into the outside world and Olivia isn't ready to serve as babysitter, but the form an unlikely team. How does the airplane tragedy relate to The Pattern, a race of unexplained occurrences sweeping the world? And what does any of this have to do with the mysterious Prometheus Corporation, one of the world's most forward-thinking companies? And what do we make of Broyles (Reddick), the head of the Homeland Security's newly formed Fringe Division?

...The script has an X-Files meets Altered States meets Alias vibe that's immediately familiar and comfortable. The actual plot of the pilot could probably have fit into a standard hour, but Abrams and Company are making the effort to give the material a global scale and the script plants at least a half-dozen potential running mysteries that will allow Fringe to have both serialized elements and also freak-of-the-week plots. ...

For FOX, the best thing about Fringe -- other than getting into the J.J. Abrams business, of course -- is that the series has the potential to partner with almost any established show on its schedule, ...

This according to Evil Puppet Masters, the official, unofficial insiders blog for all things Bad Robot (and friends). What's the distinction between being officially picked up and the now former status of "a series commitment?" I have no idea, but I'm sure it's an important one (read: important enough to crow about).

If you don't know about Fringe yet, the show is cast. The crew, from director to writers to producers is best summed up as a production dream team. The 2 hour pilot is in the can. It's going to have the scope of Abrams' LOST, packaged in a hybrid of X-Files, Altered States, The Twilight Zone and HOUSE.

The Network Upfronts are next week, and while this is the first time I've had a reason to pay attention to them, my guess/hope that they'll result in newsworthy buzz about Fringe is beginning to look like a good one.

Over at Fox, J.J. Abrams "Fringe" looks like a lock after an enthusiastic response from the network's brass during the weekend. Fox already has given its blessing for staffing to begin on the Warner Bros. TV-produced sci-fi drama.

"Fringe," which has the scope of Abrams' "Lost," is rumored for a fall launch as a key weapon in Fox's effort to shake off its fourth-quarter ratings blues. It could be paired with "Prison Break" or "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles." -- THR.com (emphasis mine)